A Prayer for Protection
1 With our own ears we have heard it, O God—
our ancestors have told us about it,
about the great things you did in their time,
in the days of long ago:
2 how you yourself drove out the heathen
and established your people in their land;
how you punished the other nations
and caused your own to prosper.
3 Your people did not conquer the land with their swords;
they did not win it by their own power;
it was by your power and your strength,
by the assurance of your presence,
which showed that you loved them.
4 You are my king and my God;
you give victory to your people,
5 and by your power we defeat our enemies.
6 I do not trust in my bow
or in my sword to save me;
7 but you have saved us from our enemies
and defeated those who hate us.
8 We will always praise you
and give thanks to you forever.
9 But now you have rejected us and let us be defeated;
you no longer march out with our armies.
10 You made us run from our enemies,
and they took for themselves what was ours.
11 You allowed us to be slaughtered like sheep;
you scattered us in foreign countries.
12 You sold your own people for a small price
as though they had little value.
13 Our neighbors see what you did to us,
and they mock us and laugh at us.
14 You have made us a joke among the nations;
they shake their heads at us in scorn.
15 I am always in disgrace;
I am covered with shame
16 from hearing the sneers and insults
of my enemies and those who hate me.
17 All this has happened to us,
even though we have not forgotten you
or broken the covenant you made with us.
18 We have not been disloyal to you;
we have not disobeyed your commands.
19 Yet you left us helpless among wild animals;
you abandoned us in deepest darkness.
20 If we had stopped worshiping our God
and prayed to a foreign god,
21 you would surely have discovered it,
because you know our secret thoughts.
22 But it is on your account that we are being killed all the time,
that we are treated like sheep to be slaughtered.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep?
Rouse yourself! Don't reject us forever!
24 Why are you hiding from us?
Don't forget our suffering and trouble!
25 We fall crushed to the ground;
we lie defeated in the dust.
26 Come to our aid!
Because of your constant love save us!
Onghuwo yeongalo leendobwedihonde
Ounongoimbilo wOvakora, wa pewa enyakwa lolwiimbo.
1 Kalunga, otwe shi uda nomatwi etu vene,
ootate eshi ve shi tu hepaululila,
eshi Ove wa longele oinenelonga
mounyuni wavo, momafiku onalenale.
2 Oove mwene neke loye wa tele mo ovapaani,
ndele ootate, Oove we va twika meenhele davo;
oiwana yoilongo owe i kombolola mo,
ndele vo we va hapupalifila mo.
3 Osheshi omikonda davo,
hado de va monififa oshilongo,
nomaoko avo, hao e va longela efindano,
ndelenee eke loye lokolulyo,
nokwooko kwoye nouyelele woshipala shoye,
oyo tuu, ye shi ninga;
osheshi Ove we va hokwa.
4 Oove auke ohamba yange, Kalunga!
Tumina Jakob ekwafo!
5 Nekwafo loye ohatu ka denga poshi
ovatondi vetu,
nomedina loye hatu ka lyataula
ovakondjifi vetu.
6 Osheshi hauta wange handi lineekele,
ndele hamukonda wange
tau va taataifa nge;
7 ndelenee Oove tuu, we tu xupifa
movakondjifi vetu,
ndele Ove wa lengaifile ovatondi vetu.
8 Kalunga, Oye elitango letu omafiku aeshe,
nedina loye ohatu li hambelele fiyo alushe. Sela
9 Ndelenee paife owe tu ekelashi nokuli,
nowe tu tula melengwa,
ndele ito ende vali nomatanga ovakwaita vetu.
10 Ove wa efa, tu shunifwe lwanima kovatondi vetu,
novatondi vetu ova hakana oihakanwa.
11 Owe tu yandja ko, ngaashi eedi tadi i koshidipaelo,
ndele to tu halakanifa mokati koiwana yovapaani.
12 Owa landifa po ovanhu voye oshimha,
nomoku va landifa po kwoye ino limonena mo sha.
13 Owe tu etelifa odino kovashiinda vetu,
nokwaava twa shaama navo,
otwa ninga oiyolifa novadinwa kuvo.
14 Owa efa, fye tu ningwe etewo leengano dii komaludi ovapaani,
nomokati koiwana ohatu pukapukilwa komitwe.
15 Alushe elengwa lange oli li komesho yange,
nohoni oya pembifa oshipala shange,
16 eshi handi udu eyeelo neendjovo domasheko,
naashi handi konenene omesho omutondi nomunanghone.
17 Ashishe eshi oshe tu hanga,
nande fye mboli inatu ku dimbwa,
noinatu enda nekonda mehangano loye.
18 Omitima detu inadi shuna monima,
neemhadi detu inadi kanduka mo mondjila yoye,
19 ngeno opo u tu denge twa alamekwa pomikwena douvandje,
ndele to tu dingililifa omulaulu wefyo.
20 Ngeno kwa li twa dimbwa shili edina laKalunga ketu,
ndele hatu nanene omake etu
kukalunga kamwe ke lili;
21 ngeno Kalunga ine shi tenheneka poluhaela mbela?
Osheshi Oye omukonakoni woiholekwa yomutima.
22 Ahowe, omolwoye tu li po hatu dipawa keshe efiku,
ndee hatu talwa twa fa eedi dokudipawa.
23 Duduluka po! Omwene, oshike to kofa ngaha?
Penduka! Ino tu ekelashi fiyo alushe.
24 Molwashike wa uvika oshipala shoye,
ndele to dimbwa oluhepo letu nokufininikwa kwetu?
25 Akutu, eemwenyo detu oda polimanena mondwi yedu,
nomalutu etu okwa shatwa po, a lyamininwa poshi.
26 Fikama u tu kwafe,
Ove, tu kulila molwefilonghenda loye!
